Improved



Z; Z. firm f i /1 1 222 N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. ,D c.

; UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

E. L. PRATT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE R. OAR- TER, OF SAME PLACE, AND D. H. GOODELL, OFANTRIM, N. H.

IMPROVED APPLE-PARER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. llflfiifi, dated January 12, 1864.

T 0 aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, E. L. PRATT, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Apple- Parer; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connectionwith the drawing which accompanies and forms part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My improvement consists in the manner of or mechanism for rotating the apple on its fork, and in the manner of operating or carryingthe knife around the surface of the apple from calyx to stem.

The operationof the machine will be readily understood from inspection of the accompanying drawing, which denotes an elevation of the parer as it appears when fastened to the edge of a table, in which drawing a represents a stationary annulus or ring provided on its front surface with bevel gearteeth. By means of a projection, b, from a bar, 0, extending diametrically across this ring, and a thumb-screw, thisgring is fastened uprightly to the edge of the table, as seen in the drawing. A radial arm, (I, rotates around the ring a on a journal-pin, e, fixed to the center of the bar 0. The shaft 1;, carrying the apple-fork f, turns in bearings upon this arm (I. Abevel-pinion, g, is fixed upon this shaft, and meshes into the teeth of the ring a. If the arm d is made to revolve around the ring, axial rotation will be imparted to the fork. Another arm, h, extends radially, or nearly radially,from the center of the ring, both arms (1 and and h having a common bearing upon the center pin, e, and so as to have a common revolution around the ring, but no movement relatively to each other. To this latter arm, projecting beyond the perimeter of the ring a, I apply the mechanism for carrying and giving movement to the paring-knife t. This knife operates upon the apple placed on the fork f, is fixed to its cutter-head w, the cutterhead placed on a long shaft, 1, and the latter, by a vibrating or semi-rotating arm or lever, m, and spring a, made to pass around and be held against the surface of the apple to pare it, all in the usual manner; and themethodof imparting the movement to the knife is as follows: The rocking arm on is fixed upon one end of a shaft, 0, turning in bearings 19, and carrying at its opposite end abevel-gear, g, which meshes into and is driven by a bevelpinion, r, on ashaft, s,which shaft is journaled in the end of the arm q, and carries a handle, t. The knife or cutter-head shaft Z is jointed to and rotates with an extension, u, from the shaft 0 or bevel-wheel q. The pinion r is half the size of gear q, a complete rotation of the pinion producing a semi-rotation of the gear, or carrying the knife half-way around the surface of the apple from stem to calyx, or vice versa. As but part of the gear is operated upon by the pinion, the gear may be made as a sector.

The radial arms hanging as seen in the drawing, and an apple being placed upon the fork, if the operator clasps the handle it and carries it around the ring a, the pinion y will impart successive axial rotations to the apple, and the movement of the hand being confined only to its motion around the ring, or having no relative motion at the wrist-joint, one revolution on its own axis will be given to the pinion r, causing the knife to pass over the outer halfsurface of the apple as the apple rotates, causing a continuous helical strip of the skin of the apple to be removed,as in other machines. The arms coming around to their first position, the handle is turned in the opposite direction, so as to carry the knife back to the upper end of the fork, a spring being applied for this purpose, or the handle turned by the operator, as may be desirable.

By this machine apples may be pared very expeditiously, as one revolution of the hand around the ring completes the operation.

In other apple-parers the movements of the knife and fork are contingent upon each other, so that the knife, as the machine operates, must continuously progress in its movement over the side of the apple. This is at times disadvantageous, as it is often desirable to pare or cut into the surface of the apple more in some parts than in others. In this machine, at any part of the revolution, by turning the hand which clasps the handle upon the Wristjoint the knife can be kept stationary with respect to the fork, or so as to cut in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the fork, instead of progressing over the surface of the apple.

What I claim as my invention is ,6 ranges 1. The manner of operating the fork and ing on its foil: the progressive movement of knife of the apple-paring machine by applythe parer can be arrested in the manner speciing them to radial arms d h, made to revolve fied. around and to operate in conjunction with a wheel or ring, a, substantially as and for the PRATT purpose set forth. WVitnesses:

2. S0 applying the mechanism which 0p- J. B. CROSBY, erates the knife that While the apple is rotat- F. GOULD. 

